The compaction of refuse such as cardboard boxes, paper, cans, and the like into compact bales for disposal has met with increasing acceptance by many businesses as an alternative to burning or collecting refuse in loose, messy piles for later disposal. Baling compacts refuse into easily manageable, dense bales for appropriate disposal by recycling or the like.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 3,728,959 describes a baler which may conveniently be used in small businesses such as supermarkets to dispose of cardboard boxes and like refuse. The baler of this patent includes a pressing box and platen, and a hydraulically actuated toggle mechanism to move the platen axially within the box to compress refuse into a bale. The walls of the pressing box necessarily are exceedingly stiff and strong to resist bowing out under the pressures generated within the box during a baling operation.
When refuse is charged to the pressing box of a baler such as that described in the above-identified U.S. patent, the refuse is seldom distributed evenly within the pressing box. Rather, refuse will build up at one or more walls of the pressing box, generally the rear wall, opposite the refuse charging door of the baler. The resulting uneven load against which the platen moves may in some cases tend to cock the platen with respect to the axis of the baler, the platen in some instances coming into contact with and scoring or gouging the side walls of the pressing box. For convenience in removing a bale, the side walls of the pressing box may diverge outwardly slightly toward the bale removal door, and this feature, coupled with the accumulation of refuse preferentially along the wall near the rear of the pressing box, appears to shift the bale refuse forwardly in the pressing box during a pressing cycle, this movement tending to displace the platen toward the front of the baler.
For practical purposes, a baler should be rugged and capable of developing high baling pressures to yield a bale of high density and low bulk. The platen should move freely within the pressing box and should be restrained from cocking or contacting the walls of the box. On the other hand, a baler should not be of such extraordinary weight or bulk as to render it non-portable from a practical standpoint or to render it so expensive as to preclude its practical use in small businesses.